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I'm trying to run VirtualBox in Linux Mint but I keep getting an error message about Kernel drivers. (lemmy.ml)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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I tried looking into this myself but I couldn't really find much about this error. The only solutions I could find didn't work for me. The first one was to use mokutil but at the point where I was supposed to run sudo mokutil --import MOK.der it gives me the error message "Failed to get file status, MOK.der" even though I did everything it told me to do. The other one was to disable secure boot and then run sudo '/sbin/vboxconfig' but even though it looked like it worked, I'm still getting the error message. I have re-enabled secure boot, so you don't have to worry about that.

Is there something else I can try or does VirtualBox not work in Linux Mint for some reason?

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 year ago (4 children)

if you just need software to set up virtual machines you might look into Gnome Boxes or virt-manager which don't require external kernel modules like Virtuap Box to work

anyway these issues typically happen on Ubuntu based distros (like Linux Mint) because your linux kernel is to new for the Virtual Box version (or the Virtual Box version is simply too old)

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (3 children)

So I tried virt-manager but it's giving me an error message about not being able to connect to "libvirt qemu:///system" and it wont let me install a virtual machine. I'm assuming that I'm supposed to download "libvirtd", but I can't figure out how to install it. I think it wants me to build it from the source but there doesn't seem to be a guide on how to do that.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Yayy, I have the same problem.

Try a

sudo systemctl enable --now libvirtd

I dont know how manual everything is in Mint

Also add your user to thr libvirt group

groupadd libvit
sudo usermod -aG libvirt $USER

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Just FYI, if you want to enable and start, you can use systemctl enable --now ....

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Are you using a package manager or downloading everything from virtualboxs website? When I installed virtual box earlier today it all worked fine so that's why I ask.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I installed it through apt with just sudo apt install virtualbox-7.0. I also downloaded the deb file from their website but, at least when installed through apt, it just ignores it and uses the version from Mint's repository anyways.

Edit: Because I just checked and you can't install it directly like that anymore, I first tried installing VirtualBox a few months ago, with an older version of Linux Mint. When I tried installing it several hours ago, it was with the deb file but for some reason apt still selects a different version when it actually installs it.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Ok thanks, I might try those later if I can't get VirtualBox working.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (4 children)

virt-manager

I've used VirtualBox for years and only just tried virt-manager. I wish I had tried years ago, so much simpler and it is in my distro's default repository.

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

First of all, check that hardware virtualization is enabled in your UEFI setup.

You need to have packages virtualbox-dkms and linux-headers installed (together with all their dependencies, but you don't have to check them manually). linux-headers must be of the same version as linux-image. That's all that you need to get driver properly built. Don't listen those users who recommend you to remove and reinstall these packages or install additional packages manually, this kind of magic doesn't work.

Also note that you cannot use kvm and virtualbox simultaneously. If you are using some kvm-based virtualization system, it causes a conflict.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Really try virt-manager with qemu and kvm. It doesnt need any kernel mods.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

🏆

virt-manager and libvirt. That works quite well and is easy to use. Virtualbox not so much.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Is there something else I can try

I use virt-manager, since it uses KVM which should already be present in the kernel.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (2 children)

How similar to VirtualBox is virt-manager? I've only ever used VirtualBox but if virt-manager is easy to use, I have no problem trying it out.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Gnome's Boxes is pretty easy to use and of course uses qemu + KVM. This would be a type 1 hypervisor vs. Virtualbox's type 2. It is point and click like Virtualbox. You don't need to use Gnome's DE to use Boxes.

I have seen people post about your specific error for years when using the virtualbox website's repository instead of their own distro's repository (if it exists).

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I just tried Gnome Boxes and it seems to work mostly fine but the only problem I’m having is that I’m trying to run a Windows XP virtual machine but I can’t figure out how to get files from my host to the guest. Apparently, I need some software to be running on the guest but the website that I need to download the software from doesn’t work in internet explorer and I obviously can’t just download it on the host and transfer it to the guest.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

In Boxes, power down your XP VM, click Settings -> Sharing Panel -> Enable Sharing toggle. Click File Sharing and enable File Sharing. Power on the VM.

At that point you should be able to drag and drop from your host direct into your VM for a file transfer.

You can also click the vertical dots menu in the Guest's console "screen" and click Send File... menu option.

In the same menu you can click Devices & Shares -> Realtek USB or whatever -> Local Folder -> Select from the dropdown for the Host's folder that you'd like to share -> Save -> Make sure Toggle on the right is on.

Then your folder, I believe in XP, will show up as a removable drive like a USB drive would.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Ok so I've already determined a solution for Boxes but I should mention that none what you said works for me. I'm not sure if I have a different version of Boxes than you (even though the only version that seems to exist is the one on flathub) but there is no sharing panel in settings. The only three options in settings is keyboard shortcuts, help and about boxes. When I'm running a VM, the option for "send file" is grayed out and can't be selected.

For "devices & shares" that is, at least for me, located in the preferences for each VM. I can't use USB devices because it's not supported in the flatpak version and if I try to use the shared folders option, the folder I specified doesn't show up in the VM. From what I can tell this might be an issue specific to some guests, like Windows XP, because Boxes links to a specific program that the guest needs to be running but when I try to run it in Windows XP, I get an error message stating that Windows XP isn't a supported guest.

The only solution that seems to work for me, is taking the files I want to use in the VM and compress them into an iso file (if they're not already) and mount it to the VM. It might be tedious but it's the only thing that seems to be working for me.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I probably wouldn't describe it as similar, but virt-manager is fairly simple but powerful at the same time (like it will let you expose more advanced KVM/QEMU features like PCIe passthrough and similar).

But like the other guy said, gnome boxes is very straight forward and probably more similar in it's simplicity.

They both use QEMU + KVM, so you can have both virt-manager and boxes installed at once, and I believe virt-manager (probably boxes too) easily let you use existing VirtualBox .vdi files, if you've got an existing VM you want to run. Also like I said before, KVM is already mainlined into the Linux kernel, so you don't have to install sketchy kernel modules and stuff.

I've only used VirtualBox once though, so I can't really compare them.

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

As others have said, there's no reason not to be using virt manager with qemu/KVM at this point

This should get you started: https://hrishikeshpathak.com/blog/install-and-configure-linux-virtual-machine-using-virt-manager/

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (10 children)

Try

sudo apt-get install linux-headers-$(uname -r)

Then reboot your machine. Virtualbox needs the kernel headers to work.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Does loading the kernel module help, assuming it’s installed?

sudo modprobe vboxdrv

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

No, it's giving me the following error message:

j@j-HP-Notebook:~$ sudo modprobe vboxdrv
[sudo] password for j:  
modprobe: ERROR: could not insert 'vboxdrv': Operation not permitted

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

That's really odd. I'm running Linux Mint Debian Edition 6 and I installed virtual box from the oracle website just fine.

As others have said, try Gnome Boxes and see if they works. If it also has issues then it's something with your system.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I actually just tried Gnome Boxes and it seems to work mostly fine but the only problem I'm having is that I'm trying to run a Windows XP virtual machine but I can't figure out how to get files from my host to the guest. Apparently, I need some software to be running on the guest but the website that I need to download the software from doesn't work in internet explorer and I obviously can't just download it on the host and transfer it to the guest.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Have you tried to download it on the host to a USB (formatted with fat32) and then in Boxes select that usb in Windows to copy and run the software?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

While I have already found a solution (and with it found out that the software doesn't even work in windows xp) the only way to download Boxes that I could find was through flathub, which doesn't allow usb devices for some reason. What does work is that I can just put all of the files I want transferred into an iso file and mount it to the VM.

Also, if there is a way to install Boxes outside of flathub, I'll have to check it out tomorrow because of late it is for me right now.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Use virt-manager or gnome boxes, they are both better and tend to run faster in my experience

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